As is well known in the building industry, those skilled in this art have attempted to produce a structural concrete wall system that would be competitive with composite masonry or wood frame construction. Such systems have never attained complete acceptance because they either lacked sufficient design flexibility or that they are not economically competitive. An example of prior art structural concrete wall system is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,491 granted to Phillips on Feb. 20, 1990 and entitled "Concrete Building Construction". As noted in this patent, the walls formed by generally planar concrete wall panels are affixed to concrete corner posts, and the panels include enlarged footers that rests on an underlying ground surface. A complex metal strap connection structure is employed to attach the panels and erect the building. This construction, is not only uneconomical, but is complex in its design, construction and assembly. Other systems form the exterior load bearing walls of the one or two story buildings by utilizing a series of planar shaped wall segments of various sizes butting end-to-end to form a three dimensional polygon. These systems leave something to be desired particularly in view of the fact they lack sufficient design flexibility and/or are not cost effective.
I have found that I can obviate the problems of the heretofore known reinforced concrete building constructions by providing a single precast concrete wall unit with an integral base that is self-sustaining in the vertical position while replacing the four separate elements in these conventional wall building processes which are, namely the concrete foundation, the masonry wall, the tie beams and columns and the stucco finish. In accordance with my invention each single wall unit would be individually designed and engineered to perform its intended function of defining the aesthetics of the building, forming a viable load bearing wall system, and attaining an economical building that is easier to assemble resulting in simplifying the erection of the building and reducing construction time.
Each concrete wall is individually designed utilizing for the most part reusable casting forms that allow for the casting on site or at a remote location.